Posted on 05/21/2004 12:32:56 PM PDT by wmichgrad
NEW ORLEANS - A jury Friday ordered the tobacco industry to pay $590 million for nicotine patches, telephone hot lines, advertising and other programs to help Louisiana smokers kick the habit.
Legal experts believe the class-action lawsuit is the first case in which a jury has found that tobacco companies should pay for such programs.
Lawyers for the smokers had wanted $1 billion — an amount tobacco lawyers deemed excessive. They said two to three years of programs, at up to $9 million a year, would give the state's smokers time to get counseling and try various aids to quit smoking.
The lawsuit had wanted the smoking cessation programs to last up to 25 years, but jurors set them at 10 years.
The verdict came in the second phase of a lengthy trial.
In July, the same jury found that cigarette makers had deceived the public with an addictive product and schemed to market cigarettes to children. It rejected calls for medical monitoring for present and former smokers, but said the industry should provide free smoking cessation programs.
The current phase was to determine how much the industry should spend on the programs and what those programs should be. A third phase, without the jury, will be used to determine how the programs are run.
The jury heard about two months of testimony and deliberated for three days before returning the verdict.
The $590 million will also go toward supplies of nicotine gum and grants for anti-smoking programs in church groups and other organizations.
None of the smokers in the lawsuit can get individual damages. The plaintiffs include any Louisiana resident who smoked before the mid-1990s, when the suit was filed.
The defendants are R.J. Reynolds, Lorillard, Philip Morris USA and Brown & Williamson.
In afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange, R.J. Reynolds shares were up 23 cents at $57.15, shares of Lorillard parent Loews Corp. were up 4 cents at $58.39 and shares of Philip Morris parent Altria Group were up 8 cents at $49.33.
I don't see why the companies should pay for this. Unless they can find who took up smoking prior to 1965, nobody should get any money.
Why not a cool $1B? These jurers are slackers.
Smoke 'em if you got 'em.
It makes no sense to force companies to pay for programs to reduce their customer base on a legally marketed product.
Too bad that money cannot buy what really helps people kick the habit... willpower and responsibility.
The tobacco companies should immediately withdraw their products from any market where they face litigation. That way, the local/city/state would be deprived of necessary tax revenues.
What next? This is nuts!
It's crapola like this that keep me fighting this battle.
I HATE the tobacco companies, but I despise the leech lawyers even more.
Not to mention letting the city/state deal with large numbers of their citizens going cold turkey.
I despise smokers who run to nanny government as much as I despise smoking Nazis who do the same thing.
I think this is an excellent idea! Why sell in a market that is trying to bury you? I, too, would pull my LEGAL product off of the shelves. Let them eat dirt.
Like Sgt_Schultze said: the Tobacco Company should pull the product off of every shelf where they are facing litigation. Let the community eat dirt!
I don't think we will have to do that! LOL!
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